The Living Daylights
1987 · Directed by John Glen
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
After a defecting Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to dispatch the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.
What it’s like
Cold-war gloss in saturated, mid-80s colour: bright Gibraltar sunlight and the flat, grey-blue of Vienna and Bratislava, with Eastern European interiors lit in weak amber and fluorescent green. The camera is steady and composed, with wide establishing shots of snowy mountain roads, a Bratislava cemetery at dusk, and a Tangier-style harbour, cut with brisk action set-pieces: a cello-case chase through a frozen Austrian landscape, an aerial sequence over Afghan hills, a long fight in a cramped prison cell. The score is brassy and synthetic in the big moments and spare in the quiet ones, with Pérez-era pop cues punctuating the travelogue. Vibe: crisp, glossy, a bit old-fashioned, cosy in its own pulpy way. It suits a lazy Saturday afternoon, a comfort rewatch, or a long flight. Pacing is brisk and episodic, with tension lighter than the setpieces suggest; the emotional throughline is a reluctant, gruff agent warming to a young woman he's protecting. Violence is moderate and mostly bloodless, with a few brief shootings and brawls, some sexual innuendo, and no real gore. For people who want classic spy escapism, gentle stakes, and well-staged chases without grim brutality.
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